Chorus lifts broadband connections 1.1% in first quarter

Chorus lifts broadband connections 1.1% in first
quarter

April 16 (BusinessDesk) – Chorus, the
network operator spun out of Telecom in 2011, increased its
broadband connections by 1.1 percent in the first quarter
while its fixed-line connections edged up 0.2
percent.

Broadband connections rose to 1.144 million at
March 31, from 1.132 million at Dec. 31, the
Wellington-based company said in a statement. The biggest
gain was in enhanced unbundled bitstream access connections
which increased by 20,000 to 767,000 over the quarter.

The
company’s fixed-line connections edged up to 1.779 million
from 1.776 million. The biggest gain was in fibre
connections, which rose by 8,000 to 35,000. Chorus said some
of the increase included trial lines not previously
billed.

Chorus is investing about $3 billion, including up
to $929 million of government financing, to deliver fibre
optic broadband infrastructure directly to more than 800,000
schools, businesses, medical facilities and homes.

The
company is extending its ultrafast broadband network, with
fibre now passing about 228,000 premises, bring 297,000 end
users within reach, it said. Some 66,500 rural lines were
within reach of better broadband at the end of the quarter
as part of its rural broadband rollout, it
said.

The Wellington-based BusinessDesk team led by former Bloomberg Asian top editor Jonathan Underhill and Qantas Award-winning journalist and commentator Pattrick Smellie provides a daily news feed for a serious business audience.

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